


Third time is a charm - Or a series of unfortunate (or not) events of Hwang Minhyun

by qtmabu



Series: Pills for cold, meals for hunger (me for you) [2]
Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempt at Humor, I am still bad at tagging, M/M, Should I continue this series?, and Seventeen made appearance as well, and all hail 95-line
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 20:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11722071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qtmabu/pseuds/qtmabu
Summary: “YOU ARE A MINOR WHO ALLOWED YOU TO DYE YOUR HAIR WHO ALLOWED YOU TO SKIP SCHOOL WHO ALLOWED YOU TO HAVE A SUGAR MOMMY WHO ALLOWED YOU TO COME TO A COLLEGE PARTY AND DRINK ALCOHOL WHO ALLOWED YOU TO SIGN UP GAY DATING APP WHO WHO WHO???”





	Third time is a charm - Or a series of unfortunate (or not) events of Hwang Minhyun

**Author's Note:**

> I am back, after the whole ruckus of moving to a new place and dealing with work in general.  
> This one-shot is still a fail imo, but still, writing helps me relieve stress so *shrugs* This should be read as a continuation of "Nothing good happens after 2 in the morning", you might want to check it out if you haven't yet.  
> Hope that you enjoy this one~

Hwang Minhyun always deemed his life as a series of overlapping unfortunate events.

Granted, he did not dramatize his life to the point of making it a tragedy plotted by Shakespears. He was not an orphan - his mom would gladly sweap him out of the door with one smooth swipe of her broom in a blink of an eye, had she known he had wandered too far off to that scenario once in a while when he was still a kid. He was not challenged on any physical aspect, maybe his build only as he could tower anyone standing within his arm reach despite only one-hundred-eighty-one centimeters in height, and as a result akwardly sticked out like a sore thumb on any occasion. Jisoo always endearingly (sarcastically) called him their “pretty cutie little bull” (what an obnoxious lie and the younger still had guts to bat his eyelash at Minhyun). He was not in any forbidden, troublesome relationship, nor being a disease transmitter. Minhyun’s life, in general, was like an ink wash painting, supposedly appearing monotonous but then the artist decided to fuck it and consumed an unhealthy amount of black ink in it to the point it became off balanced in different areas.

The unfortunate events always started off with trivial stuffs because why not making your life hillarious every single moment? Mistaken PE uniform size happened almost every term during his school life (whoever thought he could snuck fit in those medium sized pants was probably living in a world where Ong Seungwoo only checked himself out once a day and Kim Jaehwan’s laugh sounded less of a nightmare and more matching with his incredible singing ability. Minhyun hoped they kept the younger forever at the military camp).

On rainy days hundreds of people were on the street but Minhyun seemed to be the only one attracted splashed muds whenever a car passed by.

Riding a bike and accidentally crashed on a parked car on the side line since he did not hit the break fast enough? Him.

Running all the way to the station with the hope to catch the last train of the day to Busan, only to learn that he had come to the wrong station? Him.

Waking up one day with a twisted neck for no reason? Him.

Getting lost while trying to find the right restaurant his friends had made reservation, caught up with a sudden downpour and ended up with a cold next day? Also him.

Minhyun had gone through all kind of possible, trivial unfortunate events in his life to the point nothing really fazed him anymore. There was this one time a bucket of cold water was accidentally dumped on him, on his white shirt and well-washed hair and new shoes in a chilly autumn evening. While passersby were gaping and the owner of the shop kept apologizing profusely, asking if he needed a change (his favorite shirt was ruined. Not for life, but still, the stain was bitch hard to come off), the only thing Minhyun could do was offering a smile (which he knew came out more as a grimace) and assuring that it was okay, do not sweat on it too much. The owner’s face had gone pale to the point Minhyun was afraid there was no blood circulated to her brain anymore, she looked like she might pass out any moment if he did not tell her yes he was okay and no he did not intend to beat her up he was not that aggressive over a ruined shirt.

That was to prove the point that Minhyun was not the luckiest person in this world.

Like at the moment.

“Ow, come on Hyun. You do not want to tell us the truth, so man up and take the dare.”

Seungcheol, the ever reasonable voice in his circle of friends (but not anymore after this), thrust the material into Minhyun’s hands and the man eyed it as if such piece of cloth had offended his ancestor. On the side, Jisoo, the lovely, oh so gentle, angelic Hong Jisoo gave out an accidental snicker and Aaron had this shitting eating grin sitting beside him. Jeonghan had been dozing off for the last few minutes, not really caring about the whole fiasco, while Jihoon was also passively scrolling thru his phone. No one thought of taking his side. Minhyun should really reconsider his life choice, mainly in choosing friends to hang out with. His were all proven to be horrible human beings.

“It is not like we are asking you to wear a tube dress and go to the nearest strip club. What’s with that long face?”

“This does no harm to anybody. And fun too.”

 _Fun your ass_. Minhyun’s felt his temper throbbed, indicating the impending arrival of a headache.

Why on Earth this even happened?

Oh, they were playing truth or dare. How mature and manly it was, a bunch of twenty-something guys huddled together playing the game. The level of class, motivation and sentiment of this hangout had surpassed any sleepover party any bunch of twelve-year-old girls could come up with.

To be honest, it had started off pretty much tamed. “Have you ever made out with an older woman?”, “I dare you to do a pole dance using Jihoon as the pole”, “I dare you to bobo Jiho- Ouch!!! I mean Aaron!!!”, that soon escalated to “Have you ever gone down on someone in public?”, “I dare you to do phone sex with that Chinese transfer” (poor Junhui). Alcohol was that horrible it made you loses all of your dignity and decency as a normally functioned human being (which had already been luxury and privileged when it came to his friends because they were that shameless).

“So, Minhyun. Truth or dare?”

Said man took a gulp of his coke (Jisoo and he were the only ones who did not drink) before answering:

“Truth please.”

Better spilling some nonsense than having them force him do something emba-

“Tell me about the guy you are crushing then?”

Aaron wiggled his brows in that cheesy manner he thought looked attractive, but in truth disgusting.

Minhyun also spit out his coke.

“Wha-what-wow I did not have any crush… What are you-you guys talking about?”

Minhyun stammered while looking for some tissues to clean up the mess of flying coke he just made. It was just an attempt to not have to face his friends and he knew how unconvincing he looked then, with tips of his ears turned red and the stupid stuttering.

Crush? What crush? He had no crush. Ha ha.

His inner monologue was interrupted, because Jihoon just cleared his throat expectantly. The shorter’s eyes narrowed to that scrutinizing stare he only had whenever that clumsy underclassman named Mingyu did something dumb, which always made that certain one-hundred-eighty-six (and still growing) giant puppy cowered in fear at the possibility of a wrath coming from a one-hundred-sixty-four sadist (that was hilarious yet pathetic at the same time).

“Look, I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

“Hwang, we all know you are having a crush on someone. And you have never told your high school buddies at all. What kind of horrible friend are you?”

Seungcheol pouted, his eyes widened a bit more in an attempt to resemble a giant puppy he thought he was.

_You looked hella shady with that pout, and what is with this ”playing the victim” card?_

Minhyun could only frown.

“But I do not-“

“So are you going to tell us or not?”

Jihoon snapped.

“Can I not?”

Minhyun did not just whine. Thank you. Jihoon could be very intimidating sometimes.

Or most of the time, despite his stature.

It was a dead beat silent for about five minutes, before Jeonghan decided to step in. The blonde lazily drawled:

“Okay, you can choose not to tell us and do a dare then.”

A dare, or anything, would be probably hundred times better at this moment. Minhyun nodded, a little too eager and honest, before realizing that Jeonghan’s eyes had that glint that never indicated anything good (like that one time he replaced the content of Jisoo’s shampoo with peachy pink hair dye. Or how he always forced himself onto those freshmen’s life and claimed to be their mama, much to their horror).

Minhyun’s misfortune only took a turn from “spill out your crush” to “do something so risky you are going to jail and your parents are going to disown you”.

 

Minhyun thought he could go crazy at any moment. The man looked down at the clothes he was wearing, then at the wall he was going to climb upon, and finally at his friends.

Jihoon looked bored as usual. Seungcheol and Jeonghan both had this identical smug grin Minhyun wished he could punch it away. Jisoo, lovely Jisoo gave him a (useless) thumb up for encouragement. While Aaron? He was busy filming and Minhyun could not see his face behind the phone, but the younger man was sure it was not something he liked.

He hated his life.

“You are asking me to wear a high school uniform, sneaking back to our old school to steal a tuft of that dog of Mr. Lee?”

“You have repeated that for like, the fiftieth time already.”

“This is crazy!!!”

“Then tell us about your crush.”

A brief pause.

“I hate you guys so much.”

Minhyun mumbled under his breath. He was now approaching the wall, hands stretched out to reach the ledge. In the next few minutes the man will have to heave himself up over it, and he could only hope his hands were strong enough to support himself, or else the fall would be very ugly.

“Love you too Hwang.”

“Fighting! Take care.”

“We will wait for you here don’t worry.”

_As if today could get any worse for me to worry about._

Turned out, it really did get worse than what Minhyun could ever imagine of, because his bunch of dumb friends and even he himself had forgotten that no high school student was allowed to dye blonde hair. Minhyun had tried his hardest to make himself as small as possible, head hanged low and body shrank more and more towards the wall, but with his platinum, newly dyed hair and height of one-hundred-eighty-one, the man stood out like a sore thumb in the mass of the student bodies there. Such eye-catching sight could never go unnoticed by youngsters, much less a teacher.

“Hey there, kiddo.”

An elder voiced out behind his back and Minhyun flinched, because he knew it was him who was called for. Some kids turned their head to acknowledge briefly the situation, but the bell just rang few minutes ago, indicating that first lesson was about to start and no one really had time for business that was not theirs. In the meantime the hallway would be empty soon and there would be only Minhyun wandering around aimlessly since he had no actual class and no actual place to be. Not to mention that someone had noticed him already.

“Yah, I told you to stop walking, didn’t I? And what is with this hair? Do you not remember the dress code? Which class are you in kid?”

Minhyun slowed down a little, and he could hear the footsteps getting nearby as well. The wheels in his brain started turning and the man evaluated his choices. Should he continue walking to some class rooms, or turning around to hand himself over?

Was it too late, or too early, to give in and confess that this was simply just a harmless joke?

Minhyun really, seriously, truly, passionately hated his life choice.

The man squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a mere second, before picking up his pace.

He bolted.

 

While not being the most athletic person, Minhyun was glad that he had served in the army and just got discharged half year ago, because at least his joint did not crack and he had enough stamina to run for his life. The teacher was still following him while shouting loudly, and Minhyun made out the distinct sound of some barks. He paled because that meant it was Mr. Lee – the oh so evil PE teacher – along with his fat Labrador (who allowed him to take his dog to work even???) who were hunting him down. Labrador was supposed to be this gentle and calm giant, but Minhyun believed living together long enough must have rubbed some madness from Mr. Lee onto his dog, because it looked like nothing but an overweight hound frantically tracking down its prey of a rabbit. 

Just another hallway and two more turns. Minhyun prayed he made it to the wall quick enough. In a frantic move, he had called Seungcheol to “get your fucking car out here and pick me up you fucking pricks I hate you all so fucking much!!!”

(Such effort cutting off swearing since his crush was not fond of it, but at this moment Minhyun could not care less.)

Two more turns.

Minhyun could hear the angels singing from the sky above, because the barking became somewhat distant and he could only hope that weird combo of dog and owner had lost his track already. The man kept running still, because there was nothing ensuring him that he was safe enough.

One last turn.

Only one more step to freedom. Or not yet, because from the opposite direction someone was also rounding the corner, and as they were getting near more and more, Minhyun gave out a very manly screech at the sudden realization of the other’s face.

Of all possible, more romantic and less tragic scenarios, why did he have to literally run into his crush like this?

How could he forget that the other was assigned to be teacher-in-training at this school? And fate must be playing with his poor heart because of all people why it was him in this situation?

Minhyun wanted to cry, but he was too exhausted and dehydrated from his extreme running to the point instead of actual tears, his face twisted into a very ugly expression and there was this inhumane, dying-whale sound coming out of his mouth. He must look like a mad man, and was really a mad man because Minhyun could not stop himself quickly enough and ended up collide onto his crush in full force.

Well, at least he had enough flexibility to reach out and cradle the other’s head to not hit the ground, because what if his crush got a concussion from him coming in like a wrecking ball? He was pretty much of bigger size than his crush already Minhyun could only hope the fall and his weight did not break the other’s ribs, or anywhere else.

“I am so-so-so sorry…”

Minhyun gasped out. The man lying underneath him winced, his hand reached up to touch the back of his head in an attempt to check if it was bleeding or not. Instead he got to touch the taller’s bruised hand, and if this was any other occasion Minhyun would probably squeal, because his crush touched him for God’s sake!!!

“Why are you in such hurry…? Oh…”

His crush wheezed out breathlessly while making an attempt to sit up. While he did so, the man’s eyes fluttered open to look properly at Minhyun, and it should be funny given how he widened his eyes comically at the sight of the blonde. The taller guessed he must realize him as a familiar face around the campus of their college.

“You!!!”

He choked out, and Minhyun wished he could be able to stay a bit longer to figure out what the other mean with this talking tone of accusation. But the barking was coming near and the man believed he should not fail himself in front of his crush any more. This accident was a failure enough.

“I-I am rea-really sorry.”

Minhyun stuttered out another excuse, before darting for his life again.

(Had Minhyun turned around, he would be so heart-broken to see his crush point at his running direction for Mr. Lee and his dog to chase after.)

 ***

A few weeks later after that incident of coming in his crush like a wrecking ball, and Minhyun could not stop sulking. His friends did not understand his foul mood and bruised hand as they picked him up that morning, and at first they just reasoned it as Minhyun was upset that he almost got caught and fell hard while running (which was half true). Then, even if they did notice that something was off, no one dared to speak out (except Jihoon, who had all the power to force anything from anyone out if he really tried. Luckily the smaller still had conscience to know when enough was enough).

To redeem (or actually to disguise himself so that no one would realize his face and report him to the police), Minhyun had his hair dyed back to black on the day right after the accident. No more blonde hair, he had enough trouble with it already.

“Or the problem does not lie in your hair, but your entire existence Hwang.”

Aaron commented off-handedly while another bunch of girls passing by them around the corner of the campus, trying very hard to appear as nonchalant as possible while discreetly ogling Minhyun from distance. The younger boy could only groan in annoyance. If only puberty did not hit him this hard. Minhyun longed for the beautiful time back in elementary school when he was still a chubby kid receiving chocolates on Valentine days from only his mother, who believed that he was the most handsome kid in the world even when he was going through chicken pox or having snots and dirt all over his face.

Well, on the bright side, this face helps him earn some legit money.

The downside? Having a highly sought-after appearance did nothing to your miserable life of bad lucks.

Minhyun lamented while trying to wipe the coffee stains on his crisp white shirt. He had woken up to realize that his alarm had not gone off, which resulted in him missing the first period of introduction to psychology, which was totally a waste because that was the only chance for him to make heart eyes at the back of his crush fifty minutes a day, two days a week, twelve weeks a course. Yes Minhyun knew he was that pathetic he could only creep up on the other from behind with three rows of table in between them (and truth be told though, after what had happened he was not sure how to act when they were in the same room, even when the other did not acknowledge his existence). Then around the afternoon when Minhyun got to the parking lot, his bike was baring pathetically under the sun, in the heat of mid-June, with two flat tyres. Some try-hards must have done the prank in a pathetic attempt to appear hilarious. He had to run all the way to the café with the hope that he was not late to the appointment with Jinah, back then a college senior and now an aspiring new face in the fashion field. And just when Minhyun thought nothing could go wrong anymore, someone rounded the corner and gave him a face (and shirt) full of coffee.

Hot, steaming, newly brewed coffee.

God should know when to stop with this tactic of giving him a fate full of stained shirts out of nowhere. This was the third time in that week alone already.

So moments later, Minhyun was spotted in Pledis café with a sour expression while wiping his shirt with some napkins. By now it was more like the man was in autopilot mode and just doing whatever people assumed he should do in such situation, in a failed attempt to seem less of a loser that he knew he really looked like. At least Jinah should see that he did try to come off presentable. Speaking of said woman, she had called earlier that week to propose to him an offer of becoming model for her next autumn-winter collection. Minhyun was not entirely comfortable with dressing himself up in those weird things people called “fashion”, or having his face caked with thick make-up (plus removing them was exhausting), but the pay was good enough and Jinah had been nothing but a nice sunbae since his freshman year.

Half way through their convo and Minhyun started to space out, because seriously nothing discouraged his intellectual ability more than hearing Jinah rant on and on ideas for her autumn-winter collection and her predictions about the trends of next year’s spring-summer season. The younger could only nod once in a while to look like he was still paying attention, but to be honest Minhyun doubted that Jinah even cared. She was always in too deep whenever started talking about her profession and it should be admirable had it not been that Minhyun could not give a damn about leopard printed accessories or silk textile industry.

His eyes started wandering to different corners of the café, from the bickering among Pledis staffs (probably about who was going to throw out the trash today and who called dibs in getting to choose his monthly day off first) to the interior designs (they just decided to put a little flower vase on each table. How cute), before shifting to other customers. Minhyun sensed that something was off but could not put a finger on it, and years of having constant bad lucks only gave him this intuition of always fearing for the worst even when things were running smoothly. So, maybe that was just another day his instinct played trick on his mind, because nothing could go wrong in a peaceful café.

…Except when it really did, it rolled all the way downhill because pinch Minhyun please but minutes later he realized that someone was indeed watching, or more like glaring daggers at him, and it did not take the man too long to realize that it was no other than his crush, who was discreetly hiding behind a flower vase.

Minhyun had the most common reaction any normal human being would do under such circumstance.

He choked.

Jinah had this expression of utter disgust bordered with pure embarrassment and Minhyun had no heart to blame her. Even he himself did not want to look at his spluttered self at this moment.

“Really, kid? What’s wrong?”

But Minhyun could only pound his chest weakly and shake his head in response. Out of the corner of his eyes he could sense that the glare was only intensified more, which left the man stuck up in a state where life is a battlefield and he was an unarmed soldier dumped into the war fearing for his life.

First thing first, this meant that his crush still remembered who he was, though it was not his real identity and there was nothing good being remembered as such.

Secondly, he was sitting with one of his close friends - that pretty junior of the fashion design department. Minhyun knew that soon the other would notice what his friend was paying attention too and based on his observation (stalking), that Minki dude was a judging little shit and no thank you but he was dead already from all the mortification and shame the moment his crush’s eyes landed on him and his stained shirt, dirty hair. He did not need anyone else to point that out, much less his crush’s bestie.

The final point was that Minhyun might or might not be ignoring the elephant in the room. He hadn’t apologized or explained to the other about what happened few days ago. Because, hello, how easy would it be to just come up to the other out of nowhere and said: “Hi, I’m sorry for what happened it was just a dare I had to do since I didn’t want to tell my friends about my crush who happens to be you”? Minhyun knew the last part was unnecessary but he tended to ramble a lot while feeling nervous and if today Minhyun was not mortified enough he had no idea what the limitation was then.

In truth, this could only be blamed on his cowardice. And it was also telling him to run for his life before he stayed any longer in this landmine.

“It’s nice meeting you today noona. I wish I could stay longer but there are some kinds of stuff coming up at home so…”

He trailed off while gradually standing up, his posture to flee any second betrayed the “I wish” part though. Jinah seemed weirded out at this point already she could only dismiss him with a flick of her hand. The younger bowed his head several times while making his leave, totally unaware about his surrounding till when a deafening sound of crashing came to his ears. Minhyun looked down only to realize that in the process of dragging his school bag with him, the man had knocked the flower vase off the table and now it was pathetically lying in hundred pieces on the ground.

Minhyun thought maybe his heart just dropped to the ground and broke into million pieces like that vase as well.

At this point, he could feel others in the café (read: his crush and his friend) stare at him openly, after his show of being a total klutz. A Pledis employee came up to him, armed with a wet cloth and a broom and Minhyun could only stammer out a “I am so so so sorry” regardless of the other’s reassurance that “Hey, it’s okay, we have accidents here all the time so don’t sweat on it”.

Of course, he could not hear what the waiter tried to tell, as the man had fled to the door by the time the other came to his table.

***

“I am such a loser a fool a disgrace I should dieeeeeeee”

Minhyun wailed, hands flapping around so openly Aaron was scared that the younger could hit any passer-by by accident. The raven haired man must be very upset because 1) he had made a point of hardly drinking any alcohol in his life, but now looking at his third cup of something the older could not put a finger to of the night, Aaron actually feared more for his friend’s bladder than his consciousness. Also, 2) whenever Minhyun got drunk he was usually pretty tame, keeping to himself and dozing off all the time. Blabbering in a public place was probably not even a thing in the man’s mind but there they were, being sandwitched among sweaty bodies in a claustrophobic space of a house party.

Why did they even end up there?

Someone who was acquainted with a dude who was cousin of a friend who worked part time with a guy who was in the same class with Seungwoo, another college junior and fellow model with Minhyun, threw a party at his house. And Seungwoo invited them over because, free drink? It took said man a while to persuade Minhyun to come, and when the younger did appear at the party, he did nothing more than sipping continuously on the mixed drink they provide.

“I meant he is this perfect human being who always seems to have everything put together. While I am…”

And Minhyun started wailing louder, which attract more than just a few head turns and honestly the post-graduate wished for nothing other than duct taping the younger to stop him from being more embarrassing.

“Well well, why so wasted already when the night just begins?”

Seungwoo, who had disappeared the moment they made it to the doorstep, crept up behind them out of the blue. He was having that suspicious grin on his face which should ring off the alarm in Aaron’s mind, but then he’d gotten a handful of tipsy Hwang Minhyun to tend to already, and to be honest who would care much at 12 of a Saturday night?

“He is upset over something I guess.”

“Aw hyung, loosen up a bit will ya? Go grab some drink and have fun yourself, I will babysit him for you till you come back, okay?”

Sounded fair enough. Aaron hummed in appreciation and Seungwoo slide himself into the seat the older just occupied seconds ago. He gave the Korean-American a thumb up and Aaron believed nothing could go wrong at this point. Seungwoo served in the same unit with Minhyun for more than a year back in military service, the two had been close then and still were now. Seungwoo was a nice kid (aside from being an ego maniac but that was another story), Aaron had faith in him to keep their mutual buddy out of trouble.

Or so he thought.

“Yah, Hwang Minhyun, open your eyes and stay put together!!! I invited him today too this is your chance!!!”

Seungwoo whisper yelled into the other’s ear while trying to put him into a proper seating position instead of a slumping form. He was no short in the height field either, but next to Minhyun who had the size of a bull this was proven to be quite a challenge. Minhyun did open his eyes at some points in accordance to Seungwoo’s call, then turned back to shut down mode immediately.

He was just so tired and sad, but most of all disappointed in himself.

“Minhyun-ah, Mi- Oh fuck he is coming this way Minhyun wake up wake up!!!”

Seungwoo started slapping his face repeatedly which annoyed the heck out of the older. Minhyun tried to swat Seungwoo’s hands away but the other was determined on making his goal clear.

“What now?”

He slurred out his defeat and cracked an eye open to peer at Seungwoo in annoyance. In return, the shorter turned Minhyun’s head to look at the opposite direction, and the latter winced at the impact of the sudden move.

But then it was worth it because his crush appeared in his vision and all Minhyun saw were sakura petals surrounding the other, all Minhyun heard were angel’s singing from heaven.

To top it all, his crush was also approaching him.

(Well, if Minhyun was sober enough he might realize that something was not okay, that with the scowl spotted on the other’s face and his hand clenched tight in a fist.)

“Seungwoo, can you pinch me?”

Minhyun whispered in awe at the sight of the man in his dream. His wish was granted, not in the form of a harmless pinch from his friend but a full-blown punch from his dearly crush.

“WHAT THE FUCK JONGHYUN WHY DID YOU PUNCH HIM???”

That was the only thing Minhyun could hear of before darkness invaded his vision and the man slipped into unconsciousness. Something warm trickled down the side of his face but that was something to deal with later, too.

 ***

Minhyun always found it weird that Pledis was a 24-hour café. The employees reasoned that their boss believed every student had the right for coffee access at every hour of a day, especially in times of final term tests and group projects. The serving hour had been unnerving, at least to Minhyun, till the moment he was sitting in Pledis at 1 in the morning and could not help but feel thankful that this café existed. The party owner had thrown them out after the ruckus, and someone could have driven back to the dorm but they were dead tired already, Minhyun had been unconscious and no one was sober enough to be trusted with steering wheel. Thus, the group had walked back to the campus, but half way decided that this called for an intervention. Some people (read: Minhyun and Jonghyun) needed to sort out their mess together.

So there you see, a group of guys huddled together in a table for four. Minhyun was actually surprised that the employees decided to let them stay, that with the state of his own face and the somewhat murderous look spotted on Jonghyun’s face (which in truth looked kinda cute to the taller. Minhyun could have potential for an M role he did not know he had).

But then the things that happened recently and tonight were beyond imagination already Minhyun should have felt no surprise at this point. He admitted, the first thing that came to his mind when he woke up was not how broken his nose might be, but the fact that Jonghyun was upset enough that he did not care about his fundamentals and just punched him. It hurt physically, but what tore Minhyun's out more was the fact that Jonghyun was the one who did it, when the shorter was never fond of solving things in violence. A year at the training camp had taught the taller so.

What did he even do?

So currently, Minhyun was sitting with Aaron on his left and Seungwoo on his right. Opposite them Jonghyun was sandwitched between Minki and Youngmin. Minki looked too delicate to be able to pin Jonghyun down in one place, but then they had Im Youngmin who was the size of another bull despite his youthful face.

“Okay, let the intervention star…”

“Wait a bit, Dongho said he was coming as well. This was not something to be missed you know.”

“No Minki, no…”

Fifteen minutes later and Kang Dongho appeared at the doorstep in all his glory of bird-nest bed hair and unshaved stubble. The man looked like he was able to throw the café upside down, and again Minhyun questioned the ability to detect danger of the employees there.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to the first edition of Yogurt Princess Journal. On behalf of the crew, I am Kang Dongho who will be with you for the event today. For now we will contact with reporter Ong who’s covering on the spot for details of what had happened.”

“Good morning reporter Ong.”

The journalism major turned to his so-called colleague and the other replied back with the same enthusiasm.

“Hello reporter Kang. What a lovely weather today, isn’t it?”

And the jokes continued as Seungwoo started narrating about the whole event (sans the part about Minhyun’s crush, thank God). Minhyun dared to chance a glance at Jonghyun, only to realize that the other was also peering at him, expression unreadable. Both snapped their head to another directions the moment their eyes met, Minhyun could only hope the shorter did not notice how flushed his face became. His nose twitched slightly and Minhyun could not help but hiss in pain. The blood had stopped flowing for a while but the man did not dare to touch it yet. It should not be broken or Minhyun was going to kiss goodbye his deal with Jinah’s fashion show.

“Okay, the fun is over now. Seriously, what is the problem between you two?”

“Nothing”

Both chorused in unison without looking at anyone around the table because “nothing” was too much of bullshit for an answer. Aaron raised his thick eyebrow in disbelief.

“Come on, Hwang. We cannot help if you refused to tell. Or I am just going to call the guys.”

Somehow the thought about pushy Seungcheol made Minhyun sweat internally without even realizing.

“nkecnwecqalqw…”

“What, we cannot hear you?”

“I said, remember the dare you guys asked me to do? I kinda knocked Jonghyun off while running so maybe that’s why he was upse-“

“Bullshit!!!”

Opposite him, Jonghyun slammed the table hard enough Minhyun was afraid it could break into two. Youngmin jumped out his skin in shock at the sudden outburst, Minki scrunched his face up in distaste while Dongho and Seungwoo both had this identical shit eating grin on their face as they started recording with their phones.

It was not every day for them to see Jonghyun drunk, much less hear him curse.

“You!” Jonghyun pointed an accusing finger at Minhyun. The alcohol level in him was still high Minhyun guessed since he got bolder and louder than usual.

“Kid, you have done so many bad things already and you think you could get away???”

What bad thing?

Aside from having no ball to confess his undying crush for Jonghyun, Minhyun thought he made no mistake to be accused that horribly. Well, around secondary school he once sold a bicycle which was not his, and the boy had bragged about it for a whole legit year till his teacher got fed up and had to clarify for him in front of others that he found the bike in a garbage dump and no he did not steal it from anybody.

“Erm… Excuse me?”

Minhyun squeaked intelligently. Jonghyun looked like he could light up a fire with how hard the man was inhaling exhaling and the sight of clueless Minhyun did not help at all, or it actually added more fuel to the fire because the shorter started roaring out:

“YOU ARE A MINOR WHO ALLOWED YOU TO DYE YOUR HAIR WHO ALLOWED YOU TO SKIP SCHOOL WHO ALLOWED YOU TO HAVE A SUGAR MOMMY WHO ALLOWED YOU TO COME TO A COLLEGE PARTY AND DRINK ALCOHOL WHO ALLOWED YOU TO SIGN UP GAY DATING APP WHO WHO WHO???”

“AND YOU” now Jonghyun turned to Seungwoo, jabbing his finger at his chest “YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY OLDER THAN HIM AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AND YOU ENCOURAGE HIM DO ILLEGAL THINGS LIKE THAT I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU SEUNGWOO I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THAT???”

“Wow”

“Oh my…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“No but wait a fucking second. Isn’t Minhyun same age with Seungwoo?”

Thank you, Aaron, thank you for always pointing out the obvious when Minhyun was too stunt to have his brain function properly.

“Oh my…”

“Shut up Youngmin, no one says so at this age anymore.”

No one cared about the whole Youngmin Minki commotion in the background, because Minhyun’s eyes still bulged out at Jonghyun’s accusation, Jonghyun was still shaking in distress, Dongho was still recording and Seungwoo was still holding his head with his hands in disbelief.

“Is this real life, or is this just fantasy~”

Aaron continued, this time humming in mockery rather than clarification.

“I saw him wearing uniform at Kyungbock?”

“It was just a dare he made with us. We told him to get into the school, wearing the uniform and steal a tuft of Mr. Lee’s dog because we all hate it back then.”

“I saw him sitting with an older woman at the café days ago! She even gave him money.”

“That was Jinah…”

“Jinah? She is a fashion designer who is hiring Minhyun to be her model for the next show. The money was his last show salary, it was handed in person since she was hopeless with technology and internet banking, I guess?”

“But he told me himself that he was a high schooler.”

“He what?”

“I what?”

“When did I even say so?” Minhyun spluttered out in shock. Jonghyun turned pink, but nonetheless fished out his phone and started typing in his passcode, before sliding it across the table for the taller to see what appeared to be a Kakao chat. Five other heads crowded together to have a look as well, and each time one of them let out a giggle or a sound of amusement, the owner of the phone looked like he could die on the spot due to mortification.

Minhyun looked down at the phone in front of him again. The Kakao ID and phone number on the screen were staring back at him in mockery and the man felt his head throb as another headache came.

He might or might not know who was behind this scheme and it was not funny at all.

“Someone must have impersonated my friend Jonghyun-ssi. I swear to you he is in the same age with Seungwoo and legal for any activity you deemed as inappropriate above.”

“He even shares the same introduction to psychology class with you Jonghyun.”

Seungwoo piped in, and if Jonghyun had not looked like he was about to cry before he certainly did at this point. Seeing his crush curl up in shame and embarrassment was so heart breaking Minhyun had never expected, nor wanted to witness in the first place so the taller clumsily reached across the table to grab a hold of the other’s hands (which was one or two size smaller than his own Minhyun noted). The raven haired rubbed his thumbs on the back of Jonghyun’s hands in soothing manner as he spoke, voice as soft as possible:

“Hey it’s okay. I would be in distress too if I were you. I mean, what kind of joke is this? You must be scared and worried a lot. I am really sorry but it’s okay now you know. This is just a misunderstanding.”

“Why did he say sorry when Jonghyun was the one punching him?”

“Shush!”

“Oh my…”

“Shut up Im Youngmin!”

“I should be saying sorry to you. I had been just…. too stressed to see you everywhere and then tonight you appeared again and… Oh my God is you nose okay? I was too much aren’t I, I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine! Look.”

Minhyun exclaimed, and in an attempt to prove so to the other he twisted his nose, which appeared to be a great mistake because the pain was too much to handle his eyes stung with tears. Aaron could not contain his snort this time.

Anyway, his nose, though in a lot of pain, seemed to not be broken, and he was holding his crush’s hands, so who even cared?

“Just curious but why did your friend not fight back my friend at that party? He could handle Jonghyun easily with that size of him.”

“Don’t you know Dongho, Hwang Minhyun has had a crush about a size of Pacific Ocean on our little Jonghyun for a while so he will never da- Ouch!!”

On second thought, Minhyun only needed to make sure that his nose was not the only nose bleed tonight.


End file.
